MASTER P - AS IN POWER PLAYER THERE SEEMS TO BE NO LIMIT TO THE RAPPER/ENTREPRENEUR'S SUCCESS

By DENENE MILLNER

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

May 24, 1998 | 12:00 AM

Tupac died, Suge Knight went to prison, the FBI basically shut down Death Row Records, Puffy took over the charts with his pop-hop music, and then somebody proudly proclaimed gangsta rap/movies/attitude dead. Whoever said it obviously didn't know Master P. Despite the predictions, and with hardly any play from radio, MTV or BET, this native Louisianan has turned his tiny independent label, No Limit Records, into a $120 million entertainment conglomerate a company that wholeheartedly celebrates all things ghetto and gangsta. Master P raps, too. His latest effort, "Da Last Don," hits stores next month, and somebody please! find a single rap fan who isn't walking around saying Master P's trademark "Uuungh!

" He's also a producer; check out the latest Billboard charts, where no fewer than six No Limit artists are sitting pretty. He's also in the movie business. His latest, "I Got the Hook Up," opens on Wednesday. And on the side, Master P owns a real estate company, a Foot Locker sporting goods store and a gas station, and has plans to start his own adult phone line, a No Limit clothing line and a sports management firm ventures he says he needs because a successful businessman knows "you can't put all your eggs in one basket.

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" Basically, he's trying to be the ghetto's Bill Gates. And to borrow from the rap cliche "keepin' it real" is probably going to get him as close to that dream as possible. "Hey, so long as there's an audience, there's no limit," Master P, a k a Percy Miller, told Sunday Extra from his Hollywood office. "If they like it, they'll buy it.

" The hard cell Master P is banking on that with "I Got the Hook Up," the second movie from his No Limit company. His first, "I'm 'Bout It," a straight-to-video flick about a drug dealer, sold 300,000 copies with little more than Master P's street promotions and put about $9 million in profits into his pockets. "Hook Up," about two guys who build a fraudulent cell phone business in the 'hood, is about as silly and dark as the first. There are loud, ghetto-hootchie women and cussing, smoking grannies; a gang of gun-toting, drooling men in wheelchairs, and Bible-thumping moms who blaspheme while sprinkling holy water on the sinful. Scary. And Master P is fully expecting that a legion of folks will head to theaters to support him. He may be right. Jesse Washington, editor in chief of the new hip-hop magazine Blaze, says Master P's independence he owns everything, from his song masters to the film for his movies and his ability to relate to his audience give him real leverage in selling his products. "America is accepting that they have to live with gangsta movies, music, TV shows. It's part of the culture now," Washington says. "P makes music that appeals to that. "It helps that he comes from the same background of his fans. Everybody knows people like P. He has a really loyal fan base, and he makes music for them.

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" More for the money Master P used a $10,000 settlement to open a record store in California when he decided to launch his own label in 1992. He knew he couldn't compete with other record labels' huge promotion and music video budgets but this much he could do: give his audience more for less. That, he figured, would keep them coming back. So, a No Limit album would come with about 20 minutes more music than the average CD. Two-CD compilations were sold for the price of one. He formed a group, Tru, consisting of himself and his two younger brothers, Silkk the Shocker and C-Murder, and made sure to cross-promote every upcoming project in his current releases. Then he hit the road and sold everything out of the trunk of his car. "The same way you would see someone selling cologne or Avon? That's how I sold it," Master P boasts. "For somebody to sell it out the trunk of their car, you just really know he believes in that product.

" His fans are extremely loyal they're said to buy products from his company on the strength of the No Limit symbol on the album's cover, without having heard a single beat. But some things are changing. He has signed a record distribution deal with Priority Records, so gone are the days of selling out of his trunk. And "Hook Up" is being distributed by Miramax, a major Hollywood player. Perhaps the biggest change and one his fans will mourn is that Master P is retiring from rapping after "Da Last Don" drops. "I'm ready to really run my businesses, and as a rap artist, you just can't do it," he said. "There's a lot of performing, and it takes a lot out of you. Movies and corporate stuff that's more me, anyway. I think I'm a more behind-the-scenes man. "Somebody gotta take care of the business.